Mistral’s Kiss, by Laurel K. Hamilton

What can I say? I’m a Laurel Hamilton addict. Though I might not buy a copy of every new book she puts out, I do read every new book. I got a copy of Mistral’s Kiss from my local public library.

Overall, it is a bit of an improvement over her last Merry Gentry novel in that I felt like things were actually moving forward, plot-wise, rather than being a complete shagfest with little development of characters and/or plot. Contrary to what Hamilton might think about why former readers dislike her books, it’s not because we’re unsophisticated and can’t handle all the sex. It’s that the books don’t seem to be going anywhere. Have you read Book-A-Minute’s summary of Robert Jordan’s New Spring? Well, it’s really starting to seem like that, though on a smaller scale. To be perfectly honest, I read the book in about three hours–which seemed about the total period of time covered by the novel’s plot.

I am curious about the characters in these novels. And I am genuinely interested in what happens next. But what I really want is something new to happen, something that moves the plot forward in more than one night increments.

I think there are two things that are bogging down the plot. The first is that a lot of time is devoted to the characters negotiating things. In the first books of the Merry Gentry and Anita Blake series, the lead characters seemed like take-charge characters who would cut through all the bullshit and get things done. Not so much anymore. The second thing that I think is the problem is the characters. First, there are a lot of them, many of whom are getting bigger and bigger parts in each book. It’s causing the books to lose their focus I think. While I know that Hamilton is probably interested in broadening her books and exploring the complete lives of her characters, it just means that the plot gets extremely diffuse. It’s not to say that it’s hard to follow, it’s just that it gets harder and harder to see what the story is supposed to be. I’ve felt like most of Hamilton’s most recent books could be summarized with the same short sentence: “Small mystery, shag, magic, discuss magic and shagging, shag again, more magic, glimmer of plot, tune in for next installment.” Frankly it’s getting frustrating.

I will read the next Gentry and Blake novels because I am completely fascinated by the worlds Hamilton’s created. But I just wish that she could learn to condense the negotiating and, to a certain extent, the sex. The Blake novels in particular started out as great plot-driven books. And I knew that the Gentry books were going to be character driven, but I think that without a good, meaty in-book plot (as opposed to a multiple book arc), the book is rudderless.